The song “Glory Glory,” recorded by Leah Zicari in 1990, was
one of our early anthems, and has been used in the past as the opening theme songs for
several GLBT radio shows. Finding the song, even just to listen to, at this
point would be quite difficult, as it was only released on a cassette single
(perhaps for demo or radio purposes) and it appeared on Leah Zicari’s full
length cassette tape, “Wouldn’t That Be Fun?” So, I got Leah’s permission to
create a Youtube video for it, and used as the intro to it an interview clip of
her describing the inspiration for the song.
While you will not likely find the cassette album, I do
recommend you check out Leah’s two CDs, both I think excellent: “Hard Road,”
from 2001, and “Pretty on Thursday,” from 2003.
Fans of oldies but goodies radio will likely remember the
huge #1 hit Jimmy Dean had with “Big Bad John,” in 1961. Such a song was ripe
for parody and those that did went directly for the opposite of the big
super-butch John. They came up, mostly in the 1960’s and early 1970’s, with over
a dozen stereotypical and homophobic parodies, and the most popular name in the
title was Bruce.
Below, Jimmy Dean's original hit
On This Pageof my website I’ve collected all I could
find, and you can hear clips of them all. And I was quite pleased a couple of
years ago when Randy Sparks, of the New Christy Minstrels, emailed me that he
wrote the first “Big Bruce” parody, but it was quickly stolen. He shares the
whole story on my webpage.
Steve Greenberg had the most successful parody, with his
45 rpm record making the Billboard charts at #97, in 1969. It’s a well-known
parody and I think it got a lot more radio play than the chart position
indicates. Someone put the song on Youtube so I can share that with you here.
I found the lyrics online (below) and trivia nuts might
be interested to know that Greenberg recorded it twice and in the other one Bruce,
instead of coming from New Orleans, came “from Abilene, where he had a social
group called the Lone Star Queens.” It’s curious Greenberg would make that
change.
And another video is also on Youtube, by country
artist/comedian Ben Colder, and his version was of "Big Sweet John."
Ignoring the current age of Youtube video parodies, I think this song holds the record for most gay parody recordings actually commercially released.
Sometimes it takes just one song to make you a fan. And I am
just nuts over Chris Salvatore’s song “Broke Another Heart.” I've already played it several times on OutRadio. It’s from his 2010
EP “Dirty Love,” though the title track may have gotten more attention. Another
stand out track from that EP, at least to me, is “It’s You (the La La Song).”
If his name sounds familiar, he starred in the last two “Eating
Out” movies: “All You Can Eat” and “Drama Camp,” with another installment being
filmed. And he’s easy to find on google; if you do an image seach about half of
the photos are shirtless, no complaints here, he’s stunning.
But, back to the music. Since 2006 he’s released one
full-length album, three digital EPs and two digital singles. One of those
singles is the power ballad “It Gets Better,” prompted by the campaign of that
name. And you can also find on Youtube a slew of nice covers. Here's his Video Channel.
Oh, and he did a
fun duet video for the holidays with Mister Chase on “Baby, It’s Cold Outside.”
There’s lots to listen to, look at and watch with Chris Salvatore.
Ah, the only video I found for "Broke Another Heart" is subtitled in Italian
Okay, how many of you knew there was a secret gay
language in England in the 50s and 60s. Raise your hands. Hmm, not too many. It
was a slang language called polari, sometimes polare. In those days gay men
used it as a form of protection and secrecy. Outsiders would not be able to
tell what you were talking about, and it also had a humorous and campy element.
It was derived from a variety of sources, such as Italian words, rhyming slang,
and back slang, which was saying a word as if it were spelled backwards.
Theatre people and also gay men in the Merchant Marines also contributed
various words. There were probably about 500 polari terms, and they included
words for types of people, occupations, body parts, clothing, and sexual acts,
and they were ideal for gossip.
I have a couple of examples to introduce you to Polari.
In the late 60s there was a very popular radio comedy show on the BBC with
characters named Julian and Sandy. They used a lot of polari words and most of
the sketches had the word "bona" in the title, "bona" meant
"nice." It seemed in each sketch they had a different occupation. In
this one, from 1965, they were interior decorators.
But here perhaps is a better example of polari, in the
form of a song by English drag performer Lee Sutton, from a 1971 album by her
called "Drag For Camp Followers." The song is called "Bona
Eke," which means, as you'll find out, "nice face." After her
song she gives a translation, but I'll warn you that she wasn't on the up and
up with it, as a couple of the harmless translations she gives are not at all
what the naughty meanings convey. But the audience went right along.
She was always billed as “Lee Sutton, A Near Miss."
Polari fell out of use for two main reasons. I mentioned
above the radio series Julian & Sandy had in the late 1960’s. Well, that
series was so popular that the general public learned many of the polari words,
so some of the mystery of the language was erased.
Off the rails I was and Off the rails I was happy to stay GET OUT OF MY WAY On the rack I was Easy meat, and a reasonably good buy A reasonably good buy
The Piccadilly palare Was just silly slang Between me and the boys in my gang "So Bona to Vada. OH YOU Your lovely eek and Your lovely riah"
We plied an ancient trade Where we threw all life's Instructions away Exchanging lies and digs (my way) Cause in a belted coat Oh, I secretly knew That I hadn't a clue
(No, no. No, no, no. You can't get there that way. Follow me...)
The Piccadilly palare Was just silly slang Between me and the boys in my gang Exchanging palare You wouldn't understand Good sons like you NEVER DO.
So why do you smile When you think about Earl's Court ? But you cry when you think of all The battles you've fought (and lost) ? It may all end tomorrow Or it could go on forever In which case I'm doomed It could go on forever In which case I'm doomed
**********************************
Update: One of my Facebook friends in London, Rupert Smith, tells me Polari is still used to some extent...I think that's bona.
Eli Lieb garnered over a million Youtube hits on his series
of covers of songs by Adele, Lady Gaga, Britney Spears and others, and that
became an EP, now available on iTunes. But I noticed him for his first video
from his debut album, “Place of Paradise.” Yes, he’s damn good looking, but
damn, this guy can sing!
His bio tells how he spent ten years in NYC, attracting the
attention of big labels, but then he put the brakes on, and moved back to his
home in Iowa, to do things slow, his way, when he was ready. Some of the songs
are piano-driven ballads, and some add electronics and go a bit up-tempo, but
whatever, it’s his voice that matters.
In 2008 Canadian Anna Gutmanis released an anthem. Now, that’s a pretty bold statement, but it’s been over three years and it’s still riding high on the Outvoice charts. The song is “I Am Who I Am,” and the lyrics proclaim just what you think they do. I've played it a number of times on my shows, and I try not to repeat many songs. Naturally she did a video for the song, and its black & white photography contrast nicely with the proud singing.
Well, now she has a new release and I just want folks to know about it. It’s called “Glimmer in the Dark,” and I already have a favorite song, called “Another Way Out,” but then I always go for the queerest song on anyone’s album.
These are not new videos, nor are they the usual GLBT artist
fare I generally mention in this blog. But both of them made an impact on me
and certainly merit a revisit. In 2005 a video of a then-eleven year old Dutch
boy, Terence Uphoff, singing on a Netherlands television show Kinderen voor Kinderen
(Children for Children), garnered over two million viewings. He sings about his
Two Fathers ("Twee Vaders") in a way that would charm anyone.
Hosting Kinderen voor Kinderen at the time of this video was
lesbian comedian, author, singer, TV host Claudia de Breij.
And around 2009 UK singer Lily Allen released a very, Very
catchy song “Fuck You,” and it wasn’t long before folks in a number of
countries uploaded lip-syncing videos, aiming their message and visuals squarely
at homophobia. My favorite is still the first one I saw, by a group of adorable
French teenagers.
